U.S. Senate OKs takeover • Passage of bill reneges Covenant agreement By the Tribune Staff

In what had been just a constant threat before, the U.S. Senate on Monday approved, by voice vote, legislation seeking to extend federal immigration laws to the Northern Marianas.

The move paves the way for Congress to alter the self-governing status provided to the Commonwealth under the Covenant agreement, which guarantees local control over immigration and minimum wage standards.

The measure now heads to the U.S. House of Representatives for further review and is expected to draw stiff opposition from Republican members sympathetic to the island’s conditions.

This is the first time that a federal takeover proposal of the CNMI has reached both houses of the bicameral body. The island government has protested such actions in recent years because of its impact on the local economy.

The voting on Monday (Washington D.C. time) came after the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which has oversight of U.S. insular areas like the CNMI, recommended favorably last November for its passage.

Sponsored by Committee Chair Frank H. Murkowski (R-Alaska), Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), the bipartisan measure was amended extensively when the committee unanimously passed it last Oct. 20 despite CNMI’s strong opposition.

Although it passed the Senate, it is unlikely to receive favorable action following commitments made by its leadership.

In recent years, the most powerful member of the House, Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), has repeatedly vowed to block efforts to change status quo in the CNMI and promised island leaders against considering federal takeover legislation.

Mr. DeLay and other members of Congress, who visited the island, have contested the image painted by the Clinton administration, which has described the local labor conditions as “sweatshop” and considered the alien workers indentured labor.

Lobbying efforts

With the Senate vote, CNMI leaders and the business community are expected to step up its lobbying efforts to convince the House against considering the legislation. (See related story on Page 2)

After its passage, one of the founding fathers of the Covenant lamented that if “We gave up sovereignty for local control over immigration and minimum wage that they now have seen fit to deny us, perhaps it is time too that the US Senate equally returns and restores our sovereign rights.”

Local leaders are preparing to visit Washington to stress the importance of protecting the economic freedom of the CNMI as guaranteed under the Covenant.

S. 1052, one of host of measures aimed at changing CNMI’s self-governing status, seeks automatic implementation of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act in the Commonwealth once it takes effect.

It will, however, allow a nine-year transition period intended to help local businesses like hotels and tourism-related establishments cope with potential adverse economic impact.

The Senate committee scrapped key provisions that would have provided the CNMI legal means to contest in the court a federal takeover of its immigration functions based on findings of the U.S. Attorney General under the first draft of the proposal.

Because of the change, the transition period in which to orderly phase in of INA was shortened from 10 to nine years ending Dec. 31, 2009, with up to 10-year extension for hotel and tourism industries.

Under the proposal, the target implementation will begin one year after its enactment.

Since 1997, there have been moves to strip CNMI control of its immigration, minimum wage and custom standards stemming from its alleged failure to curb influx of cheap labor from Asian countries — a move that local officials say will spell the island’s economic collapse. (With reports from AP)